Over the past months I’ve noticed a common denominator running in and out of the subjects I’ve been discussing. Simply put, the subject of circles, in one form or another, have been popping up. In “Mind Loops” I talked about the nasty negative and winding loops that play over and over again in our minds and how to cut through them. In my end-of-the-year Ponder This I discussed the “Sacred Hoops” of the cycles of time and the repetitive cycles within our lives. Longtime readers of Ponder This might remember that in my article, “The Web of Life”, I mentioned that the circular woven spider’s web reminded us that we are all connected. Today I want to revisit circles, or rings and their relationship with the symbols of keys.

Picture in your mind the visual of the key ring. Not just any key ring but a large circular jailor’s key ring. Many keys are hanging from that life circle, clanking together as you walk along your long road. Ask yourself these questions: Are you the jailer? Are you restricting yourself from living your own life? Or are you allowing someone else to hold a key or even a few? Are you the unwilling prisoner or are you complicit? Are you confining yourself to a life of locked doorways? Have you completely closed off your route of possibilities? Are you allowing fear embedded keys to lock the doorways to the life you want to live?

What would your life look like if you thought of this large key ring not as one belonging to a jailer but one that belongs to a school custodian holding a different set of keys? They are the keys that musically jingle as he walks through the school halls. These are the keys that are quite capable of opening the doors allowing you to explore and learn new possibilities. Maybe one of those keys allows you to retrieve things you have long forgotten, opening up a hidden memory or entrance into different worlds you may have only imagined.​Which key ring you choose is your choice. Whether you choose the ring that holds keys that noisily clang or the ring that holds the keys that pleasantly jingle-it is up to you. The majority of us hold one of each key ring. These keys on the rings are inanimate objects which hold no opinions one way or another. You are the one who assigns meaning to each key and place it on the key ring of your choice. Which of your key rings is heavier, the jailer’s or the custodian’s? Are you content with the weight of each?

When you are rolling up your sleeves in this New Year deciding what to work on for the improvement your greater good begin to think about your keys. You control the choices you make. Are you choosing to work on lightening your jailer’s key ring, picking keys that hold vulnerability and fears which lock you up? Cleanup work is often difficult and tiring. And yes, a dirty job. Call out to your self-confidence, summon up your courage, put on your work boots and jump into the muck and mire. If you need a new tool or skill to get the job done learn it; if you need to discard garbage thinking, don’t just throw it away, but replace it with a piece of brilliance. If you come up against obstructions practice the tools that will knock them down and eradicate them. You are capable of so much more than you realize and possess the inner courage to do so.​And what are you doing about the custodian keys? Maybe you want to improve upon some of them. Clean and polish work can be gratifying. Maybe some need enhancement to their brilliance-make them sparkle.

The goal of the soul is to have a full custodian key ring and to be left with an empty jailer’s ring. Joyous Jingling!!​​​​